Valve lifter



Feb. 24, 1942. lG. w. HILEY 2,274,604 f l VALVE LIFTER Filed April 5,1940 k W V M111 L Patented Feb. 24, 1942 VALVE LIFTER Gies W. I-Iiley,Smithboro, N. Y.; Goldie E. Hiley administratrix of said Gies W. Hley,deceased Application April 5, 1940, Serial No. 328,102

(Cl. 'i4-518) 4 Claims.

vThis invention pertains to. ratchet lever power mechanisms and isparticularly applicable for operating'a plunger or other sliding orreciprocating part on any kind of machine or for use as a valve lifterfor compressing the spring on the i valvestem of an internal combustionengine or for other analogouspurposes. Such spring coml,pressorsfacilitate disconnecting the valve for its removal from a motor.

One purpose of this invention is to provide a ratchet lever mechanismthat is actuated by a lever in such a way as to elevate the entire leveras the lever handle is pushed down toward a valve or other element to beliited. A further object is to mount a ratchet lever in such a way thatas the lever is elevated as a whole, its effective leverage is increasedby simultaneous alteraframe arm 5 is provided with a yslot t to receivethe pin 8. In the opposite arm Ii is a slot I0 to receive a pin II froman intermediate portion `of the lever l. This arm 6 is disposedangularly so as to diverge downwardly from the frame. From Figure 3 itis evident that the arm 5 is `bifurcated so that the roller 3 slideswith its ends in the respective slots 9 of the pair of Varms 5.Similarly, the opposing diverging arm 6 is tion of relationship betweenits relative iulcrum points.

These and vother objects will become apparent f ing the same in sideelevation with a portion of the lifter in vertical section;

y Figure 2 represents an enlarged side View of title lever arrangementof Figure l; vFigure 3 represents a top plan View of the ratchet leverof Figure 2; and

Figure 4 represents a horizontall cross section of` a portion of themechanism along the line lIi-4 of Figure 2, showing the relationship ofa `portion of a movable frame with respect to a standard for the leversupport.

rReferring more particularly to the drawing, a

rigid pedestal I is shown with its upper portion vencompassed by arelatively movable frame 2. A

genlerallly U-shaped arm 3 extends from the frame to terminate in a fork4 under the pedestal so as toengage and lift the spring of a valve uponvwhich the pedestal is to rest. On the upper vportion of the movableframe 2 are opposing arms 5 and 6.

A lever I Vis mounted in the upper part of the movable frame 2 tofulcrum against the pedestal I and to slide in the arms 5 and 6. Thissliding of the lever is controlled by the disposition of rcer-tain pinsthat connect the lever to these arms 5 and 6. To this purpose, the workend of the lever is provided with a pin or roller 8; and the bifurcatedso that the lever cross pin il is guided by its ends in the pair vofslots lil.'

Between these pins 8 and II, the lever 1 is fulcrumed upon a roller I2which is mounted upon the rigid pedestal I. The portion I3 of the leverthat bears upon the fulcrum roller I2 is arcuate as illustrated inFigures l and 2. Thus as the handle of lever I is forced downwardly, thelever is drawn toward the handle because of the guiding action upon thepin II of the angularly disposed slot I0. Thus the arcuate portion ofthe'lever yconstituting `the fulcrum and also the end roller 8 `aredrawn toward the handle of the lever. However, this motion isaccompanied by relevation of the end roller 8 and so of the arm 5.Consequently, the entire movable frame is elevated, including theportions 2, 5, 3 and It.

To secure the lever at any intermediate position a pawl 2I is pivoted tothe lever 'i while a ratchet face 22 is formed `along the upper edge ofthe divergent arm 6. The pawl EI is held normally in the teeth of thisratchet by a clip spring 23 inserted between the pawl and the lever arml. To lrelease the pawl a simple nger grip'lever2ll mounted upon thehandle of the lever is connected to the pawl by a link 25.

The Xed pedestal portion `I of this appara-tus comprises a central postenlarged at its top I4 to a sliding iit within the column 2` of themovable frame. This enlargement of the pedestal I is suicient lin lengthto stabilize or maintain alignment of the frame 2. Moreover, a shoulderI5 is formed within ythe cylinder of frame 2 to sur- -round the pedestalI and likewise to maintain longitudinal alignment of the frame 2.Between I the pedestal Ahead I44 and the frame shoulder I5 is interposeda compression spring I5, Thus as the* frame 2 is elevated the shoulderI5 compresses the spring IB against the bottom of a pedestal head I4.vThis tends to keep the vtwo elements, pedestal vI and movable frame .2,relatively movable.

The lower portion of the pedestal I is threaded. Upon this is threaded abase Il adapted to rest upon an engine valve, for example, and adaptedby reason of the threading to adjust the appara- Vslots I3.

tus upon its base or, in other words, to adjust the space between thepedestal I and the roller foot or claw portion 4.

A coarser adjustment may be effected by arranging slots I8 in the outersurface of the frame 2 and providing a split throat I9 to encircle themovable frame 2. Through this split throat is a cross bolt 2U to slideinto one or another of these This split throat serves to secure the workarm or U-arm 3 to the frame 2. As shown, the arm 3 is swiveled betweenthe split throat I9 and the roller claw 4. Thus a coarse adjustment ofthe arm 3 and claw 4 may be provided along the frame 2 while a fineadjustment is effected by the threaded base I'I of the pedestal I.

In operation, one may press down upon the lever 'I and thus elevate theframe 2 and its associated parts. At the same time, the entire lever 'Iis elevated correspondingly. Moreover, as the handle of the lever isdepressed, the lever vis drawn toward the operator. Consequently, theeiective lever arm of the resistance of roller I2 is diminished andtherefore the leverage or ratio of lever arms between the applied forceto the resisting force is increased. Thus the actual force to depressthe lever remains substantially constant while practical ease ofdepressing the lever is maintained because the entire lever is raised asthe valvek lifter is raised. Moreover, the effect of friction at thefulcrum point is minimized inasmuch as the roller I2 cooperates with thearcuate bearing portion I3 of the lever as to minimize friction. On theother hand, when the lever is released as the pawl is withdrawn from itsengaging ratchet teeth, the handle of the lever moves slowly as thelever nears its upper position.

This invention has been described with reference to an illustrativeembodiment as applied to valve lifter. However, it is contemplatedthatother applications of this invention will occur in which are utilizedthe novel features pointed out in the appended claims.

While in accordance with the patent statutes, I have described theprinciples of this invention and illustrated a preferred embodimentthereof, it will now be apparent to those skilled in the art thatmodications and alterations may be made within the scope of the appendedclaims.

What I claim is:

l. A power transmission mechanism comprising a rod member, ananti-friction bearing element at the upper end of the rod member, atubular frame member mounted for upward and downward sliding movementson the rod member, a spring in said frame member normally acting toforce the rod member upwardly in the frame member, arms projecting fromopposite sides of the frame member, a lever, lguiding means mounting thelever at one end to swing vertically and to slide horizontally on one ofthe arms, and guiding means mounting the lever at an intermediate pointin its length to slide on the other arm in a plane inclined downwardlyand outwardly from a level above the level of the first-named arm, saidlever being free from connection with the rod member and having anarcuately curved surface contacting with said anti-friction bearingelement and mounting it to swing vertically and shift longitudinally onthe rod member at a point between its connections with said arms.

2. A power transmission mechanism comprising a rodlmember, ananti-friction bearing element at the upper end of the rod member, atubular frame member mounted for upward and downward sliding movementson the rod member, arms projecting from opposite sides of the framemember, a spring in said frame normally acting to force the rod memberupwardly in the frame member, a lever, guiding means mounting the leverat one end to swing vertically and to slide horizontally on one of thearms, guiding means mounting the lever at an intermediate point in itslength to slide on the other arm in a plane inclined downwardly andoutwardly from a level above the level of the Erst-named arm, said leverf being free from connection with the rod member and having an arcuatelycurved surface contacting with said anti-friction bearing element andmounting it to swing vertically and shift longitudinally on the rodmember at a point between its connections with said arms, and lockingmeans for locking the lever to the second-named arm at any point in thelength of its guiding connection therewith to hold the rod and framemembers in relatively shifted positions against the pressure of thespring.

3. A power transmission mechanism comprising a rod member, ananti-friction bearing element at the upper end of the rod member, atubular frame member mounted for upward and downward sliding movementson the rod member, a spring in said frame member normally acting toforce the rod member upwardly in the frame member, arms projecting fromopposite sides of the frame member, a lever, guiding means mounting thelever at one end to swing vertically and to slide horizontally on one ofthe arms, a guide member on the frame connected with the other arm andhaving a guide slot and guiding means on the lever engaging said slotand mounting the lever at an intermediate point in its length to slidein a plane inclined downwardly and outwardly from a level above thelevel of the first-named arm, said lever being free from connection withthe rod member and having an arcuately curved surface contacting withsaid anti-friction bearing element and mounting it to swing verticallyand shift longitudinally on the rod member at a point between itsconnections with said arms, and pawl and ratchet locking means forlocking the lever to the guide member against the pressure of the springon the rod at any point in the length of its guiding connectiontherewith.

4. A power transmission mechanism comprising a rod member, a tubularframe member mounted for upward and downward sliding movements on therod member, arms projecting from opposite sides of the frame member, alever, guiding means mounting the lever at one end to swing verticallyand to slide horizontally on one of the arms, guiding means mounting thelever at an intermediate point in its length to slide on the other armin a plane inclined downwardly and outwardly from a level above thelevel of the first-named arm, said lever being mounted to swingvertically and shift longitudinally on the rod member at a point betweenits connections with said arms, a rack extending along the second-namedarm in a path parallel with the path of the said outwardly anddownwardly inclined guiding means, and a pawl on the lever for lockingengagement with said rack.

GIES W. HlLEY.

